On this date, March 27, 2018, Rosendo Rodriguez III was executed by
lethal injection in Texas.
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Rosendo Rodriguez III, 38, is scheduled to be
executed in Texas after being found guilty of capital murder in the 2005 death
of Summer Baldwin, 29, who was pregnant at the time
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Rosendo Rodriguez III
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Born
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March 26, 1980
Wichita Falls, Texas, U.S.
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Died
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March 27, 2018 (aged 38)
Huntsville, Texas, U.S.
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Cause of
death
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Other names
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The Suitcase Killer
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Criminal
charge
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Penalty
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Death (May 14, 2008)
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Details
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Victims
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Joanna Rogers, 16
Summer Baldwin, 29 |
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Date
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c. May 4, 2004 (Rogers)
c. September 12, 2005 (Baldwin) |
Rosendo Rodriguez III (March 26, 1980 – March 27, 2018) was an American murderer
sentenced to death and executed in Texas for the September
2005 rape and murder of 29-year-old Summer Baldwin in Lubbock,
Texas.
Rodriguez,
a Marine reservist with no prior criminal
convictions, was in Lubbock for training at the time of the murder, and was
also found to be responsible for the murder of 16-year-old Joanna Rogers in the
same city the preceding May (the killings were linked by Rodriguez's modus
operandi, as both victims were found stuffed into suitcases which were then
thrown into the same Lubbock landfill). Rodriguez was executed at the Huntsville
Unit on March 27, 2018.
Background
Rodriguez
was born on March 26, 1980, in Wichita Falls, northern Texas. He allegedly
faced abuse from his alcoholic and domineering father, Rosendo Rodriguez Jr.
The younger Rodriguez attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, and had
worked as both an office clerk and as a fast food worker, as well as serving as
a Marine reservist.
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Joanna Rogers (left) and Summer Baldwin (right)
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Murders
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Summer
L. Baldwin
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Born
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August 27, 1976
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Disappeared
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September 11, 2005
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Died
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c. September 12, 2005 (aged 29)
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Cause of
death
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Asphyxiation and/or blunt force trauma
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Body
discovered
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September 13, 2005
Lubbock, Texas |
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Nationality
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American
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Joanna
Rogers
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Born
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June 25, 1987
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Died
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c. May 4, 2004 (aged 16)
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Cause of
death
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Asphyxiation and/or blunt force trauma
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Body
discovered
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October 24, 2006
Lubbock, Texas |
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Resting
place
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City of Lubbock Cemetery
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Nationality
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American
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On
September 13, 2005, the body of Summer Lee Baldwin was found in a
Lubbock landfill. She was found to have died of asphyxiation and to have
suffered numerous beatings. Summer, a 29-year-old native of Washington state, was working as a sex worker in
Lubbock when she disappeared two days earlier, and had also been serving as a
witness in a federal counterfeiting case, bringing her murder to the attention
of the FBI. Summer was also around 5 weeks
pregnant when she was killed, which served as an aggravating factor at
Rodriguez's 2008 trial. Rodriguez was linked to the killing via a UPC code on
the suitcase, and he had been arrested by September 15. He was also identified
on CCTV footage as having bought the suitcase from a nearby Walmart in the
early hours of September 12. In October 2006, the remains of Joanna Kathryn
Rogers were found in the same landfill as that of Summer Baldwin after an
extensive search. Joanna had been missing since May 2004.
During
his interrogation, Rodriguez claimed that he and Summer entered a hotel room on
the night of September 11, had consensual sex through the early hours of
September 12, and that Rodriguez strangled her on the initiative of his
military training after she pulled a knife on him. He told a similar story
regarding Rogers, who he claimed became violent after he refused to pay her for
having sex with him.
Trial,
appeals and execution
Rodriguez
was initially offered a plea deal that involved him pleading guilty to the
murders of both women, but he refused at the last minute. He was convicted of
the capital murder of Summer, and he was sentenced to
death by lethal injection on May 14, 2008. Rodriguez spent just shy of 10 years
on death row, below both the national and Texan average. During his
incarceration, he contributed to inmate blog Minutes before Six on
matters of criminal justice and politics.
Rodriguez's
lawyer appealed the death sentence based on a potential Brady
disclosure violation by District Attorney Matt Powell for failing to
disclose information regarding activities of the medical examiner who performed
one of the autopsies.
On
October 30, 2017, an appeal by Rodriguez to the US Supreme Court was denied. He
was executed as scheduled on March 27, 2018. He was pronounced dead at 6:46 pm.
In
his final statement, Rodriguez called for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to
investigate the Lubbock County, Texas district attorney Matt
Powell and medical examiner Sridhar Natarajan, saying they had been involved in
multiple wrongful convictions. Rodriguez also called for a boycott of Texas
businesses until capital punishment is stopped there.
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Rosendo Rodriguez, 38, was executed on Tuesday
night in Huntsville, Texas. In 2005, he strangled pregnant prostitute Summer
Baldwin (right) then put her body in a suitcase and tossed it in a landfill.
Prosecutors at his trial said she was still alive when she was placed in the
bag
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OTHER
LINKS:
Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney Matt
Powell told The Texas Tribune on Monday that he found no joy in the execution
but that Rodriguez was a man who deserved the ultimate punishment.
“Who sticks a human being in a suitcase and throws
them out with the trash?” Powell questioned. “This was a guy that, left
unchecked, was going to hurt somebody else again and was going to continue to
terrorize women.”
Texas executes Lubbock “suitcase killer”
Rosendo Rodriguez was executed Tuesday for killing
a Lubbock prostitute and tossing her body in a dumpster in a suitcase. His
final appeals questioned the medical examiner's testimony that she was sexually
assaulted before her death.
'She
deserved to live' - Remembering Summer Baldwin, 13 years after her murder
Monday, March 26th 2018, 10:54 am PHT
Monday, March 26th 2018, 10:54 am PHT
Remembering
murdered teen, 16-year-old Joanna Rogers
Monday, March 26th 2018, 10:25 am PHT
Tuesday, March 27th 2018, 12:49 am PHT
By Shaley Sanders, Anchor/Reporter
Monday, March 26th 2018, 10:25 am PHT
Tuesday, March 27th 2018, 12:49 am PHT
By Shaley Sanders, Anchor/Reporter
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